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Learning Styles: Improve Your Ability to Learn

Although formal learning generally takes place in schools and colleges, learning is a lifelong tool that affects careers, social standing, economics and personal fulfillment. As a result, the more you can do to improve your ability to learn faster, the more self-confidence you will have and the more successful you will be.

Learning Styles: Learning to Learn
Because everyone's learning style is slightly different, learning to identify how you learn can improve your ability to learn faster and more effectively.

While there are more than seventy different models and theories on styles of learning, most can be broken down into three distinct learning styles. In general, people exhibit some combination of the three styles with stronger tendencies toward one. A person's learning style may also change, depending on the subject or activity he or she is learning. The styles include: 

• Kinesthetic, practical learners: Forget sitting in desks listening to instructors drone on and on. The kinesthetic learner wants to learn by doing. Kinesthetic learners have good muscle memory, making them good at sports, dancing, martial arts and other physical activities.
  
  Practical learners prefer the hands-on environment of a science experiment or carpentry project rather than sitting still. In fact, many kinesthetic learners can't sit still, tending to fidget or play with pens when forced to sit down. They do well with any test that requires activity or projects.
  
  
• Verbal, auditory learners: People that learn best through verbal and auditory learning styles are well-suited to standard classroom education, where information is delivered by lectures.
  
  These learners tend to be good speakers and have a firm grasp of language and grammar. They tend to remember names, participate well in study groups and do well with oral exams and written responses. These are the type of people who notice the soundtrack during a movie and who often enjoy music and acting.
  
  
• Visual learners: People with visual learning styles learn faster when images and visual stimuli are included in lessons. Because they tend to "see" written words, they usually read faster than verbal, auditory learners.
  
  Visual learners are good at spelling, as they recognize words by sight. They learn well when colors, charts and signs are included in lectures. They excel at map reading, diagram work and making or using outlines.

Learning Style Weaknesses
Although understanding your individual learning style can improve your ability to learn faster, you also have to be aware of the pitfalls and weaknesses associated with each learning style. For example, while kinesthetic learners tend to be worse spellers than either of the other two learning styles, they usually do better with keyboards. Long tests and lengthy essays are difficult for the kinesthetic learner.

In contrast, verbal, auditory learners have more difficulty with short, timed tests and essays, as they need time to express themselves. Visual learners run into problems with oral and listen-and-respond tests, as these circumstances lack the visual cues the learner needs.

Knowing what kind of learner you are can help you put more effort into your weaker areas, helping you perform better on tests, in work situations or in any area of life where learning a new skill or piece of information is crucial to your success.

Study Tips for Learning Styles
Once people identify which learning style works best for them, they can learn how to capitalize on their strengths. For instance, if you are an auditory learner, you can improve your ability to learn faster by:

• engaging in group study sessions
• explaining what you're learning to others
• reading out loud in private
• taping lectures for later playback
• using memory tools such as word association.

Kinesthetic learners can take advantage of their learning style by:

• going on field trips
• incorporating learning into active pastimes
• studying regularly for short periods of time
• studying with others
• using flash cards
• using movement and senses as memory aids.

Those with visual learning styles learn faster when they:

• circle, underline or highlight notes
• draw maps or diagrams about the subject
• make lists
• outline essays and notes
• sit at the front of the class to see the instructor
• use flashcards
• use images as memory aids
• watch instructional videos.

Using Multiple Learning Styles
Few people learn using only one learning style: Most individual styles are a combination of the three learning styles listed above. In some circumstances you may use kinesthetic techniques to improve your ability to learn while other situations may call upon your visual or auditory learning styles.

The point of learning styles is not to pigeonhole yourself into one distinct style. Instead, an awareness of learning styles helps you determine how you learn and which techniques improve your ability to learn.